Whyos

Jeremy Wagstaff recently posted a very positive analysis regarding Skype, with which, as a heavy user of Skype for IM, I quite empathize.  However, his take on voice functionality is a tad euro-centric; not to say that he’s wrong, but I think that Skype’s journey back from years of neglect is a harder trek than he posits. The audience isn’t quite aligned as he suggests, and the typical usage isn’t quite right for a widespread integration with social nets. Read More »

…in fully functional (google-style) beta at www.superfluid.biz; when we have the chance to breathe, I’ll post further. For now, suffice it to say that we’re launched, and developing several specific community focii, including game development and marketing that may useful to readers here.

btw: If you’re a business (game developer, designer, marketing folks, etc.) that’d like to participate in superfluid, for a limited time you can submit for the beta here.

-Nathan

I was asked the other day by an interviewer about the past and future of manifesto games, with which I have been glad to have been involved. As I was telling him, though, that a portal dedicated to indie games is redundant by definition in the current environment, where a thousand flowers are definitely blooming, it occurred to me that what is needed now isn’t a distribution channel, but cooperative representation for marketing and business development. Read More »

I like the idea of Apple acquiring EA, and contrary to what 1Up says, EA has suffered enough lately to make that a bit more viable. Apple could really use some high quality content for the iPhone/touch line of devices (which is now effectively competitive with game platforms like the DS), and perhaps upcoming tablets. -I’m sure Apple think it wonderful to be so successful with the App store, but knowing how Apple values user experience, you’ve got to think that they’d be happier setting some content quality benchmarks on their platforms, as that business grows. And EA nurtures their brand in much the same way that Apple does; so bringing that marque in, and living with it would likely be a happy marriage.

EA is actually in a rough position; unlike Activision/Blizzard and others that have been successful in creating/acquiring succesful alternate distribution and models, they are sort of in the process of another re-start of such efforts. Apple would largely get them out of this bind, as they could grow and learn on Apple’s digital distribution platform from a privileged position, while also growing their IP base and sales generally.

…Well, actually, it’s a bit difficult to discern cause from effect here, but either way, not a bad thing, in the long term. Just as the old media bulwarks of the game industry didn’t prosper with the growth of the business they nurtured (with the notable exception of Game Informer), neither are the game publishers. And I think that it was to some extent a symbiotic death spiral. The whole model of $60 games is daft, but the print magazines, and, to almost the same extent, online sites (IGN and Gamespot) always pushed publishers in that direction, as they rated games based upon core-gamer expectations of game depth and play duration that aren’t actually sustainable. -Despite all of the complaining that developers and publishers have done about GameStop’s used game model, and I can see the valid reasons for that, GameStop has done a bit to ameliorate the lameness of the frontline game pricing model on the console side, as digital distribution is doing on the PC side. Read More »

We all know that games sold quite well over the holidays and continue to do so. In addition to the conventional product (weighted toward console titles), we’re seeing good volume for casual and online titles. So everything should be great for developers and publishers…but somehow it’s not.

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I remember in the early ’90s relying on dedicated and proprietary “black box” digital technology hardware, like the Synclavier, for post-production. That was also the beginning of the transition to desktop solutions, so it was a pretty exciting time for technology, but still not so far advanced that we couldn’t justify shooting film and mutilating it with alternative processing. -The first Avid setups we used were so low-res that we had to refer back to tape to check eyeline. Coincidentally, it also was about that time that I heard Strauss Zelnick give a speech about how interactive entertainment would change the world that convinced me that it wasn’t worthwhile to use this great non-linear tech in service of linear end-product. Read More »

I have been pondering today the question of why it so bothers me that Gabo!, by Yoot Saito (of Seaman fame), was rejected by Apple for iPhone.  The obvious issue is that it’s a curious and problematic situation when corporate entities own the tools of creative expression, and can stop distribution of an individual’s work. And this case is pivotal, as I don’t believe you can argue that his work isn’t art on some level, which could make it the Lady Chatterly’s Lover of the digital/hardware-approved content era. But, for me, it’s also more subtle, as I have long argued with more indie friends that the game console model of content control is fair because a) the hardware is subsidized, and hence the manufacturer is giving you better hardware than you’d buy for yourself for this use, in support of software sales and b) it’s focused primarily on commercial games, and not really a common carrier, as the PC serves as such an appropriate and parallel vehicle for content transmission. From a functional perspective, it never seemed to me that a non-commercial developer would bother putting in the time to learn the tools to put out a product onto a platform so customized to expensive development, and having an installed base so focused on gamers. This situation has changed slightly with xna and digital distribution, but still, developing for the console remains something that is logically targeted at gamers, under firm existing expectations on the part of creator and end-user. Read More »